Clackamas County light-rail vote realigns our political conversation

You might have missed it, but a fundamental shift is unfolding in Oregon politics. Last week, voters in Clackamas County, joined by those in King City, delivered a pair of largely symbolic mailed-in mandates on, of all things, light rail. That this usually dry, mundane aspect of transportation and infrastructure policy has captured the full attention of conservative activists and county commissioners alike may signal a shift away from the emotionally charged social issues that typically divide Oregon's politics and toward more reasoned discussions over the legitimate functions and size of government.

To be sure, the Sept. 18 vote likely will not stop Clackamas from funding TriMet's Portland-Milwaukie light-rail project. The county secured a loan from Bank of America, to the tune of nearly $20 million, mere days before ballots were due. However, that activists have succeeded in making this much noise in a metro county that both parties need to win is a significant step on the road from Damascus. The "Clackastanis," as some call themselves, have also done much to differentiate from other conservative groups, both locally and nationally.

While the Tea Party groups and activists to which they are compared have become bogged down in superfluous battles over fetal personhood and opposite-sex marriage, opponents of urban renewal, the Sellwood Bridge, light rail and especially Metro have largely stayed on message. Where they and the local chapters of national fiscally conservative organizations have provided the muscle behind local and countywide initiatives -- as well as placing a measure on the state ballot to phase out the inheritance and estate taxes -- Oregon's traditional conservative kingmakers failed, by a wide margin, in their statewide effort to eliminate government funding for abortions. Indeed, this may indicate a paradigm shift among Oregon voters to issues that candidates could, if elected, do something about.

The slogan is as simple as it is apparently omnipresent on Interstate 205 billboards and Portland radio stations: "Stop Portland Creep." The Lake Oswego-based Oregon Transformation Project endorsed a slate of candidates in Clackamas' "everyone in the pool" May primary and provided considerable cash to boot. Former Wilsonville Mayor John Ludlow and former state Rep. Tootie Smith have tethered themselves to this message, hedging their candidacies in what are typically low-attention races against Metro's "smart growth" urban development plan.

Pushback has been considerable, both in and outside Clackamas County. Metro President Tom Hughes declared plainly that "Clackamas is underachieving politically," and voters simply had to accept smart growth. Norm Eder, a lobbyist for CFM Strategic Communications Inc., referred to the county he has counted as a client as "sort of a zoo."

This transformation has the effect of pushing the visceral yet distant social divisions off the front pages (mailings from a certain candidate for state labor commissioner notwithstanding). Oregon's infrastructure problems and Portland's decision not to pave roads are well-known by now. The priority of Portland's new eastside streetcar, supported in part by slashed TriMet bus routes, has done as much to fuel the Milwaukie light-rail debate as Third Century Solutions' cash. It also rivals in silliness Ohio's proposed 47-mile bridge across Lake Erie in the 1970s.

Oregonians are long overdue for a substantive debate, on their doorstep and in their mailbox, as to what the proper functions of government should be and how they might be funded. The continued use of national red meat in local races -- involving candidates who couldn't resolve, for instance, California's Proposition 8 or the Afghanistan War if they wanted to -- insults our collective intelligence.

For Republicans, particularly those who remember the lonely victories of the Oregon tax revolt, this means finally converting support for their ideas into votes for their candidates. Democrats, on the other hand, should feel the urgency that Clackamas -- or the suburbs in general -- cannot be taken for granted.

Brendan Monaghan, save for a four-year stint studying political
science at Ohio State University, is a lifelong Oregonian and lives in
Lake Oswego. A College and Young Republican, he will be writing an
opinion column for The Oregonian on alternate Thursdays.